Occasional Paper - TAFE Directors Australia

24
TAFE IN THE YEAR OF THE TIGER
Unlike other Anglophone countries, Australia has
a highly differentiated tertiary education system
with CBT in VET, and curriculum in higher education.
Differentiated systems are effective when they lead
to different labour market destinations that draw
on the different knowledge base of each sector.
However:
• VET graduates from diplomas and advanced
diplomas often compete with bachelor
graduates for the same positions, and diplomas
are being replaced by degrees as the entry level
qualification in many occupations (Foster et al.
2007; Karmel & Cully 2009)
• the ‘fit’ between qualifications and occupations
is quite loose, except for regulated occupations.
In 2008, only 30.3% of VET graduates reported
that they were working in the occupation
directly associated with their VET qualification
(NCVER 2008, Table 7)
• most workers do not move into a different
occupational skill level post-training in VET,
including over two-thirds of those in low paid
occupations and 86% of those in higher paid
occupations (Pocock 2009).
It is difficult to sustain arguments for differentiated
curriculum in VET and higher education when
graduates compete for the same jobs. It is also
difficult to argue that CBT results in efficiencies by
training people for specific workplace tasks or roles
when most people will not be employed in those
jobs. And, it is difficult to sustain an argument that
VET qualifications directly increase access to higher
skilled occupations if this is measured by transition
from a lower to a higher skill level. Yet these are the
narrow purposes of VET qualifications as defined in
policy, and these are how they should be measured.
Outcomes for VET graduates from 2003–2009 show
that the percentage in employment after training
peaked in 2007 but otherwise was not much
different; and, the percentage in further study after
training declined by almost 8%. Demand for tertiary
education declines with strong labour markets, but
strong labour markets also in part account for the
increase in employment outcomes. Some groups
experienced little or no growth in employment
during this period, particularly young people
aged between 15–19 years. Their employment
outcomes declined from 2001–2008 by almost
3% and their further study outcomes declined by
5%. Equity groups are over-represented in low level
VET qualifications and languish in Certificates I and
II which have appalling employment and further
study outcomes.
The new definition of CBT does not address the
fundamental problem which is that learning
outcomes are still based on workplace tasks and
roles. This means that units of competency are based
on a disaggregated view of the workplace, so that
‘becoming competent’ consists of aggregations of
workplace tasks and roles that have been defined
independently of each other. Moreover, it is still
a requirement that knowledge ‘should only be
included if it refers to knowledge actually applied at
work’ (DEEWR 2009).
So, rather than providing students with access to
the applied disciplinary knowledge that underpins
occupational practice (as in the professions),
they are only provided with contextually specific
applications of knowledge. This is because
knowledge is delocated from the applied disciplines
and tied to specific workplace requirements.
Students may be able to associate a contextually
specific application of knowledge with a specific
context, but it does not help them if they need